How To Evaluate Your Transportation Management System’s Expected Results

How To Evaluate If Your Transportation Management System Is Getting Expected Results

Not all transportation management platforms are created equally. Yes, these platforms add value, but it’s essential know how to evaluate your transportation management system ROI to make sure you get the expected results.

That’s because TMS failures become evident in uncontrolled freight spend, subpar customer experiences, and limited collaboration with your network. 

Here’s a few tips to evaluate your transportation management system.

Capture and Analyze Transportation Management System Data

Capturing data is essential to understanding whether carriers live up to their commitments. For instance, the TMS might track pickup and delivery timeliness. 

“Measuring a carrier’s on-time percentage based on customizable on-time ‘rules’ can give you visibility to overall and individual carrier on-time performance,” Inbound Logistics reports. “Knowing which carriers or lanes are likely to cause issues will let you prioritize both your carrier improvement and tracking work.” 

Of course, tracking carrier data is excellent. The right system should track all 3PL, LSP, forwarder, or any other freight management partners’ data that you co-own or need as well.

That’s not to say that it should require the surrender of data. Instead, the right system should track your business partners’ performance. If not, your system is missing part of the bigger picture.

Evaluate How Your Transportation Management System Supports Omnichannel Expansion

Part of real-time data collection, analysis, and sharing involves omnichannel considerations. 

Since omnichannel is an anywhere and everywhere approach to logistics, it implies that it must enable limitless, seamless flexibility. In turn, it will help shippers reduce dwell time, lower freight spend, and maximize throughput. Additionally, the system should empower teams to overcome exceptions with automated processes that can handle predefined problem criteria and recognize when human intervention is necessary. 

In essence, the speed at which the business can return to routine operating procedures quickly and without long-term ramifications directly impacts how well the system can support omnichannel capabilities, including the unyielding demands of e-commerce.

Download our eBook to find out how an omnimodal TMS supports omnichannel service.

Trying to learn the value of a TMS?

Evaluate How Your Transportation Management Platform Reduces Risk

Response times matter, especially when monitoring disruption. But analytics that provide insight into the transport and freight markets can help shippers stay proactive. 

Being aware of changes as they occur with real-time data analysis and sharing remains a vital part of transportation management systems. All of this makes a big difference in transportation’s highly competitive field. With an innovative TMS platform in place, these benefits are within reach.

Does Your Current System Reduce Labor Time or Streamline Process Management?

Next, ask, “what did the system do to improve the existing process? Did descriptive analytics come into play, and were prescriptive analytics used to streamline manager’s decisions?” 

That is the scope of information needed to evaluate this platform’s potential cost-saving measure. And that includes assessing and considering labor resources. In transportation management, laborers may work as dock personnel, gatekeepers, or drivers.

Managing the full symphony of all workers is essential to understanding total landed transportation costs and avoiding unexpected losses. Moreover, there are soft, indirect savings that are highly like labor cost savings. For instance, increased employee satisfaction may lead to less stress and less risk for an incident. Meanwhile, happier workers are more productive workers.

Get the Results You Need by Choosing the Right System Vendor on the First Try

A secure and robust transportation management system remains critical for success within the transportation and logistics industry. It can impact virtually every aspect of the supply chain. 

Managers and shippers alike can respond quickly to problems in real-time. Customers can get their orders and shipments without excessive delays. Managers can keep orders and lanes moving efficiently. Shippers and carriers can keep moving with full loads to keep profits flowing. 

Third-party vendors and partners can work with the supply chain rather than against it by staying on the same page. And it all depends on the quality and value of ROI for the system in use.

Try our ROI Calculators to find out the financial impact a leading transportation management platform can have in your business. 

Find Out the Potential Value of a TMS for Your Company By Trying One of Our ROI Calculators Today

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